The Vatican Information Service is a news service, founded in the Holy See Press Office, that provides information about the Magisterium and the pastoral activities of the Holy Father and the Roman Curia...[+]

Vatican City, 16 November 2015 (VIS) –
Yesterday afternoon the Holy Father met with the evangelical Lutheran
community of Rome in the Christuskirche, where he was warmly welcomed
by Pastor Jeans-Martin Kruse, who in his welcome discourse also
recalled the visits to the same temple by St. John Paul II and Pope
Benedict XVI.

Francis then answered questions from
three members of the community, a child and two women, and after the
vespers prayer, with the reading from the Gospel of St. Matthew (25,
31, 46), he pronounced an off-the-cuff homily in which he emphasised
that Lutherans and Catholics must ask mutual forgiveness for
persecutions against each other and for the scandal of divisions.

The first question to which the Pope
responded was from a child who wanted to know what he liked the most
about being the Pope. “The thing I like best, sincerely, is being a
pastor”, Francis replied. “I like being the Pope in the style of
a parish priest. Service: I like it, in the sense that I feel good,
when I visit the sick, when I speak with people who are desperate or
sad. I like going to prisons … to speak with detainees. … Every
time I enter a prison I ask myself, 'Why them and not me?'. And I am
aware of the salvation of Jesus Christ, His love for me. Because He
saved me. I am no less a sinner than they are, but the Lord took me
by the hand. And when I go into a prison I am happy. Being a Pope is
being a bishop, being a pastor. If a Pope is not also a bishop, if a
Pope is not also a pastor, he may be a very intelligent person, very
important and hold great influence in society, but I think that
inside he will not be happy”.

The second question came from a
Lutheran woman married to a Catholic, who lamented the fact they
cannot participate together in the Lord's Supper. “It is not easy
for me to answer this”, affirmed the Pope. “I think that the Lord
told us the answer when He gave us this mandate: 'Do this in memory
of me'. And when we share the Lord's Supper, we remember and we
imitate, we do the same thing that the Lord Jesus did. And there will
be the Supper of the Lord, the final banquet in the New Jerusalem. …
However on the path, I wonder – and I do not know how to answer,
but I make your question my own – I wonder, is sharing the Lord's
Supper the aim of the path, or the way of walking together? I leave
this question to theologians, to those who understand. It is true
that in a certain sense sharing means saying that there is no
difference between us, that we have the same doctrine … but do we
not have the same Baptism? And if we have the same Baptism, we should
walk together. … When you pray together, this Baptism grows and
becomes strong; when you teach your children who Jesus is … you do
the same thing, in both a Lutheran and Catholic language, but it is
the same thing. Your question: and the Supper? There are questions to
which only if one is sincere with oneself and with the few
theological 'lights' I have, it is necessary to answer in the same
way. 'This is my body, this is my blood' said the Lord, 'do this in
memory of me', and this is a viaticum that helps us to walk together.
… To your question I respond only with a further question: what can
I do with my husband, so that the Lord's Supper accompanies us as we
walk together? It is a problem that each of us should respond to. A
pastor friend said to me, 'We believe that the Lord is present there.
He is present. You believe that the Lord is present. So what is the
difference?' 'Ah, these are explanations, interpretations'. Life is
greater than explanations and interpretations. Always make reference
to your Baptism: 'one faith, one Baptism, one Lord', as St. Paujl
said, and take it from there. I would never dare give permission to
do this as it is not my competence. One Baptism, one Lord, one faith.
Speak with the Lord and go ahead. I dare not say any more”.

The final question, from the treasurer
of a project to help refugee families, related to how to combat
poverty and to ensure that Christians do not consider this inevitable
or, worse, erect new walls to defend themselves against it.

“Man, from the first moment,
according to the Scriptures, was a great builder of walls that
separate him from God”, said the Holy Father. “And there is a
fantasy behind human walls, the fantasy of becoming like God. For me
the myth … or the narrative of the Tower of Babel shows the
attitude of men and women who build walls, because building a wall is
like saying, 'We are the powerful, and you are outside'. Building a
wall of exclusion follows this approach. The wall is a monument to
exclusion. … For us too … how often do wealth, vanity and pride
become walls … that distance us from the Lord? … What can we do
to avoid building them? Let us do as Jesus did … by placing
ourselves in the place of the least among us. … With this work of
yours, helping young mothers, you do not build walls, you carry out
service. … Human selfishness seeks to defend its own power, its own
selfishness, but this defence distances it from the source of true
richness. Walls, in the end, are a form of suicide. They close you
in”.

Following this discussion the Pope said
vespers and pronounced a brief homily in which, citing the Gospel of
St. Matthew, he spoke about the questions that Jesus will ask us on
Judgement Day. “Did you go to Mass? Did you receive a good
catechesis? No. His questions will be about the poor, as the poor are
at the centre of the Gospel. He, being rich, made Himself poor to
enrich us with His poverty. … It is the choice of service. Did you
use your life for yourself or to serve? To defend yourself from
others with walls or to welcome them with love? This will be the
final decision of Jesus”.

“And I wonder: we, Lutherans and
Catholics, on what side will we be on that day, the right or the
left? There have been many bad times between us …. Think of the
persecutions – between us! With the same Baptism! Think of the many
people burned alive. We must ask forgiveness for this, for the
scandal of division, so that all of us, Lutherans and Catholics, are
together in this choice, the choice of service that He has indicated
to us, the servant of the Lord”.

“Finally, I like to ask Him, He Who
serve unity, to help us to walk together. Today we have prayed
together. Let us pray together, walk together for the poor, for the
needy; let us love each other with true fraternal love. 'But father,
we are different, because our dogmatic books say one thing and yours
say another'. But a great exponent of yours once said that there is
the time of reconciled diversity. Let us ask today for this grace,
the grace of this diversity reconciled in the Lord, that is, the
Servant of Yahweh, the God Who came among us to serve and not to be
served”.

Vatican City, 15 November 2015 (VIS) –
At midday today Pope Francis appeared at the window of his study in
the Vatican Apostolic Palace to pray the Angelus with the faithful
gathered in St. Peter's Square, and to reflect on the Gospel reading
of the day's liturgy in which Jesus, before his last Passover, spoke
of the final events of human history, marked with apocalyptic signs:
wars, famine, cosmic catastrophes. However, he said, these elements
are not the essential part of the message. The central nucleus around
which the words of Jesus revolve is Him: He Himself, the mystery of
His person, His death and His resurrection, and his coming at the end
of time”.

“Our final destination is the
encounter with the risen Lord”, Francis explained. “We do not
await a time or a place; rather, we are going to encounter a person:
Jesus. Thus the problem is not 'when' these premonitory signs of the
last days will occur, but rather that we find ourselves prepared. It
is also not about knowing how these things will happen, but instead
how we have to act today, in awaiting them. We are called to live in
the present, building our future with serenity and trust in God. …
The prospect of the end does not distract us from the present life,
but instead leads us to regard our current days with hope. … And
our hope has a face: the face of the Risen Lord. … The triumph of
Jesus at the end of time will be the triumph of the cross, the
demonstration that the sacrifice of oneself out of love for one's
neighbour, in imitation of Christ, is the only victorious power, the
only stable point in the midst of the upheavals of the world”.

The Lord Jesus “is not only the
destination point of our earthly pilgrimage, but also a constant
presence in our lives ... and this is why when we speak of the future
and project ourselves toward it, it always leads us back to the
present. He counters the false prophets, the fortune-tellers who
predict that the end of the world is near; He counters fatalism. …
He wishes to direct His disciples in every age away from curiosity
about dates, predictions, horoscopes, and concentrate their attention
on today in history. … This presence of Jesus calls us to
anticipation and vigilance that excludes both impatience and
lethargy; both refuge in the future and imprisonment in the current
moment and in worldliness”.

Vatican City, 15 November 2015 (VIS) –
Following today's Angelus prayer, the Holy Father again expressed his
sadness at the terrorist attacks that caused bloodshed in Paris,
France on Friday evening, claiming many victims. “I send my deepest
condolences to the president of the French Republic and to all
citizens. I am especially close to the families of those who lost
their lives, and to the injured”.

“Such barbaric acts leave us shocked,
and we wonder how the human heart can conceive and carry out such
horrible events, which have shaken not only France but the whole
world. Faced with these intolerable acts, one can not but condemn
such an unspeakable affront to human dignity. I wish to reaffirm
strongly that the path of violence and hatred does not solve the
problems of humanity, and to abuse God's name to justify such a way
is blasphemy!”, he exclaimed.

“I entrust the the innocent victims
of this tragedy to God's mercy. May the Virgin Mary, Mother of mercy,
inspire in us thoughts of wisdom and intentions of peace. We ask her
to protect and watch over the beloved French nation, the first
daughter of the Church, Europe and the whole world. Let us pray
together in silence and then recite the Hail Mary”.

The Pope went on to mention that
yesterday in Tres Pontas, in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil, Don
Francisco de Paula Victor was proclaimed blessed. A Brazilian priest
of African origin, the son of a slave, he was “generous and
committed in catechesis and in administering the sacraments”,
distinguished above all for his great humility. “May his
extraordinary witness serve as a model for many priests, called to be
humble servants of the people of God”.

Vatican City, 14 November 2015 (VIS) –
This morning in the Clementine Hall Pope Francis received 150 members
of the Jesuit Refugee Service, the international organisation founded
35 years ago by Fr. Pedro Arrupe and currently active in more than 45
nations, whose mission is to accompany, assist and defend the rights
of refugees and displaced persons.

Father Arrupe, the Pope recalled during
the audience, initiated the service after witnessing the plight of
the South-Vietnamese boat people, exposed to pirate attacks and
storms in the South China Sea. The then Superior of the Jesuits, who
had lived through the atomic bomb explosion at Hiroshima, realised
the scope of the tragic exodus of refugees and saw it as a challenge
the Jesuits could not ignore if they were to remain faithful to their
vocation. He wanted the Jesuit Refugee Service “to meet both the
human and the spiritual needs of refugees, not only their immediate
need of food and shelter, but also their need to see their human
dignity respected, to be listened to and comforted”.

The Holy Father referred to the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' estimate that there are
almost sixty million refugees worldwide, the highest number since the
Second World War, and noted that the Jesuit Refugee Service is active
in areas of greatest need, in conflict and post-conflict zones, such
as Syria, Afghanistan, the Central African Republic and the eastern
part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where they accept men and
women of different religious beliefs who share their mission.

“The Jesuit Refugee Service works to
offer hope and prospects to refugees, mainly through the educational
services you provide, which reach large numbers of people and is of
particular importance”, said Francis, emphasising that “offering
an education is about much more than dispensing concepts. It is
something which provides refugees with the wherewithal to progress
beyond survival, to keep alive the flame of hope, to believe in the
future and to make plans. To give a child a place in school is the
finest gift you can give. All your projects have this ultimate aim:
to help refugees to grow in self-confidence, to realise their highest
inherent potential and to be able to defend their rights as
individuals and communities”.

“For children forced to emigrate,
schools are places of freedom. In the classroom, they are cared for
and protected by their teachers. Sadly, we know that even schools are
not spared from attacks instigated by those who sow violence. Yet
they are places of sharing, together with children of other cultural,
ethnic and religious backgrounds; places which follow a set pace and
a reassuring discipline, places in which children can once more feel
'normal' and where parents can be happy to send them”.

However, “all too many refugee
children and young people do not receive a quality education. Access
to education is limited, especially for girls and in the case of
secondary schools”. For this reason, during the upcoming Jubilee
Year of Mercy, the Service has set the goal of helping another
100,000 young refugees to receive schooling, via a “Global
Education” initiative entitled “Mercy in Motion”, with the
collaboration of a large group of supporters and benefactors.

Francis invited those present, as they
persevere in their work of providing education for refugees, to
“think of the Holy Family, Our Lady, Saint Joseph, and the Child
Jesus, who fled to Egypt to escape violence and to find refuge among
strangers”, and to Jesus' words: “Blessed are the merciful, for
they shall obtain mercy”.

“And I cannot end this meeting …
without presenting to you an icon: that 'swan song' of Fr. Arrupe,
precisely in a centre for refugees. He asked us to pray, not to
forget prayer. It was he himself who, with this advice and with his
presence there, in that centre for refugees in Asia, did not know
that he was bidding farewell: they were his last words, his final
gesture. It was his final legacy to the Society. Upon arriving in
Rome, he was afflicted by a stroke that caused him to suffer for many
years. May this image accompany you: the image of a good man, not
only the creator of this service, but also one to whom God gave the
joy of giving his last farewell in a centre for refugees”.

Vatican City, 14 November 2015 (VIS) –
Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin has sent a telegram on
behalf of the Holy Father to Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois, archbishop
of Paris, following the terrorist attacks in the French capital which
took place during the night of 13 November, which have so far caused
127 deaths and many injuries.

Having learned of the horrible
terrorist attacks in Paris and at the Stade de France, causing the
death of many people and injuring many others, the Holy Father
Francis joins in prayer with the suffering of the families affected
by this tragedy and the mourning of the French people. He asks that
God, the merciful Father, welcome the victims in the peace of His
light and offer consolation and hope to the injured and their
families. He assures them, and all the members of the emergency
services, of his spiritual proximity. Once again the Holy Father
vigorously condemns violence, which resolves nothing, and asks God to
inspire in all thoughts of peace and solidarity, and to extend to all
families at this difficult time, and all the French people, the
abundance of His blessings”.

The Catholic television channel Sat
2000, during a special programme on the Paris attacks, made a
telephone call to Pope Francis who, when asked about his reaction to
last night's massacre, said: “I am moved, saddened and do not
understand, but these things are difficult to comprehend … and so I
pray. I am very close to the beloved French people, I am close to the
families of the victims, and I pray for all of them”.

In response to the journalist who
remarked that the Holy Father has often stated we are experiencing a
“piecemeal third world war”, he affirmed, “Yes, and this is one
of the pieces. But there are no justifications for these things, …
neither religious nor human. This is not human. Therefore, I am close
to all those who suffer and to all France, whom I love greatly. Thank
you for calling”.

Vatican City, 16 November 2015 (VIS) –
At midday today in the Holy See Press Office, a press conference was
held to present the “Ratzinger Prize”, instituted by the “Vatican
Foundation: Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI”, to be awarded on 21
November to Professor Nabil el-Khoury, Lebanon, and Fr. Mario de
Franca Miranda, S.J., Brazil. The speakers at the conference were
Archbishop Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer, S.J., member of the
Foundation's Scientific Committee, Msgr. Giuseppe Scotti, president
of the Foundation, and Professor Pietro Luca Azzaro, executive
secretary.

Nabil el-Khoury is professor of
philosophy and comparative literature at the Lebanese University in
Beirut, where he has taught since 1977, and at the University of
Tubingen, Germany. He is the translator into Arabic of the Opera
omnia of Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI. He has held courses at the
Eberhard Karls University of Tubingen, the Catholic University of
Eichstatt-Ingolstadt, the Johannes Gutenburg University of Mainz, and
the University of Freiburg in Germany, and the University of Salzburg
in Austria.

Fr. Mario de Franca Miranda, S.J. began
teaching in the theological faculty of the Pontifical Catholic
University (PUC) in Rio de Janeiro in 1974, and served as ordinary
professor of systematic theology and subsequently in the Jesuit
faculty of theology in Belo Horizonte, where in 1990 he was appointed
as academic rector. He returned to the PUC in 1993, where he served
as dean of the faculty from 2001 to 2003. In recent years he has
devoted himself to ecclesiological studies. He has given courses in
various dioceses throughout Brazil, and has collaborated extensively
with the Conference of Brazilian Bishops. He has also served as a
member of the International Theological Commission in the Vatican
under during two periods between 1992 and 2003, under the direction
of the then-cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

In his discourse, Archbishop Luis
Francisco Ladaria Ferrer, S.J., emphasised that with its decision
this year, the Foundation continues to broaden its horizons. “Indeed,
from the beginning the Ratzinger Prizes have been granted to
theologians of various nationalities: Italy, France, Spain, Germany,
Great Britain, Poland and the United States, and by virtue of the
ecumenical spirit that inspires the Foundation, this important award
has also been given to some representatives of other Christian
confessions. This year both prizewinners are Catholics, but neither
of them belongs to the so-called 'Western world'. ... With these two
figures, the list of theologians who have deservedly received the
Ratzinger Prizes is further enriched not only quantitatively, but
also qualitatively”.

Vatican City, 14 November 2015 (VIS) –
In a letter published today, written in Latin and dated 22 October,
the Holy Father appoints Cardinal Salvatore De Giorgi, archbishop
emeritus of Palermo, Italy, as his special envoy to the closing
celebration for the centenary of the creation of the diocese of
Lanciano, now the archdiocese of Lanciano-Ortona, to take place on 22
November.

- Msgr. Antonio Napolioni as bishop of
Cremona (area 1,917, population 368,797, Catholics 331,250, priests
346, permanent deacons 14, religious 435), Italy. The bishop-elect
was born in Camerino, Italy in 1957 and was ordained a priest in
1983. He holds a doctorate in theology from the Pontifical Salesian
University, Rome. He has served in a number of pastoral and academic
roles including vice-rector and rector of the regional seminary of
the Marches, director of the regional centre for vocations, lecturer
in pastoral theology and catechetics in the Istituto Marchigiano of
Ancona, and the Pontifical Institute of Pastoral Ministry of the
Pontifical Lateran University, Rome. He is currently pastor of the
San Severino Vescovo parish. In 2005 he was named chaplain of His
Holiness. He succeeds Bishop Dante Lanfranconi, whose resignation
from the pastoral care of the same diocese upon reaching the age
limit was accepted by the Holy Father.

- Msgr. Corrado Sanguinetti as bishop
of Pavia (area 782, population 185,161, Catholics 173,000, priests
134, permanent deacons 5, religious 158), Italy. The bishop-elect was
born in Milan, Italy in 1964 and ordained a priest in 1988. He holds
a licentiate in biblical sciences from the Pontifical Biblical
Institute of Rome and a degree in theology from the Pontifical
University of the Sacred Heart, Rome. He has served in a number of
roles in the diocese of Chiavari, including parish priest, president
of the diocesan board for youth pastoral ministry, member of the
diocesan centre for vocations, and member of the diocesan pastoral
council. He is currently pastor of the parishes of San Colombano and
San Martino del Monte, provost of the Cathedral of Nostra Signora
dell'Orto, pro-vicar general, and member of the diocesan prebyteral
council, the college of consultors and the diocesan pastoral council.
He is lecturer in sacred scripture at the theological faculty of
Northern Italy in Genoa, and was named chaplain of His Holiness in
2011. He succeeds Bishop Giovanni Giudici, whose resignation from the
pastoral care of the same diocese upon reaching the age limit was
accepted by the Holy Father.